Students at Uppsala University will guide citizens to a healthier lifestyle

2018-05-08

Thursday, May 17th, a unique meeting will take place at Gränby Sportfält in Uppsala, where students at Uppsala University will offer health tests and lifestyle advice to the thousands of joggers, spectators and children who participate in the Blodomloppet street race.

Helena Grönqvist, students and Catharina Svensson, Uppsala University

On May 17, the citizens of Uppsala will have the opportunity to meet a selection of university students that will be present at the Blodomloppet street race. In a tent at Gränby Sportfält, the students will offer joggers and spectators simple health tests, answer questions about exercise and provide lifestyle advice along the way towards better health.
– To meet and talk to all these people with interest in health is incredibly inspiring. We hope to see every child in the kids Blodomloppet so that we can talk about the importance of eating fruit and vegetables, and also that the children will bring their parents so that we can test the adults' blood pressures and other measurements of physical health that can contribute motivation to bring out the training gear, says one of the students.

Already at Blodomloppet 2017 the students greeted the Uppsala citizens and their thoughts on exercise and health. The queues rang long, and the great interest resulted in Uppsala University allocating additional resources to enable the students to develop their initiative even further.
– It is our duty to spread knowledge and provide tools for every person to break unhealthy habits. This requires interprofessional collaboration, and during spring our students have planned their activity within the framework of Uppsala University's specially designed course To meet health challenges with citizenship and interprofessional collaboration. This year, professionals have participated in the education, which provides a good opportunity for skills development within working life, "says Helena Grönqvist, course leader at Uppsala University.

The University's initiative has drawn attention far beyond the city limits. European consortium EIT Health - working to improve European public health - has decided to give the project financial support, and later this year Karolinska Institutet and University of Copenhagen will perform similar initiatives during Stockholm’s Midnattsloppet and Copenhagen's Cultural night.
– The collaboration with EIT Health brings us completely new opportunities to develop educational efforts where students can team up across traditional education boundaries. Prior to this year's Bloodomloppet, we have formed the Run4Health concept, where students in collaboration with industry, society and citizens can share their knowledge, but also gather ideas that provide opportunities to create innovative solutions to health-related challenges, says Catharina Svensson, Professor and EIT Health Campus Coordinator at Uppsala University.